


Show Your Colors

by Morbid_Hatter



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Get Together, M/M, Matt can't hold his alcohol, Pride, for gay Pride month, self-confidence issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 04:48:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11305992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbid_Hatter/pseuds/Morbid_Hatter
Summary: Written for Gay Pride Month.Vladimir finally accepts himself enough to go to the Pride parade and Festival. He isn't there to really make friends or find himself a date. He accidentally does one of these and sorta does the other.





	Show Your Colors

**Author's Note:**

> There are no superheroes in this universe - this means that Matty can still see, there is no Daredevil, my Russian Murder babies are just my Russian babies, and Fisk is just a regular dickhead.

The brightly colored flyer weighed heavily in Vladimir’s hand. It was hard to remind himself that it was okay here; America was different than Russia. But even with that knowledge, the t-shirt hiding under his button-down was constricting his breathing like a tri-colored noose.

He stood in front of his mirror, one hand still crushing the flyer and the other trying to tuck the collar of is t-shirt under the button-down. It felt like a metaphor for his life up until that point; shoving that part of himself down until he had almost convinced himself that it didn’t exist.

A quick knock at his door startled him out of his musings. He shoved the ruined paper hastily into his pocket and croaked out a quiet “come in.”

Anatoly opened the door and came in like a wind storm. “What are you wearing, Volodya? We are going to a parade, not a funeral!”

Vladimir would always be grateful for Anatoly’s easy acceptance but sometimes he wished he was a little less extreme in his acceptance. His brother had a shirt saying “Гордый брат” in bright colors. It was never a thing he could say back in their homeland and now that they had gotten out, Tolik would wear his support with glee.

“Come on, little brother! People will think I am the gay one if you wear that!” Anatoly turned and invaded Vladimir’s personal space to forcibly remove Vladimir’s outerwear.

Knowing that he had lost the clothing battle, he grumbled out “am not gay,” as he allowed the over shirt to be removed by his over-eager brother.

Anatoly, ignoring Vladimir’s comeback, threw the black shirt to the ground as if it had done him a personal misdeed. “Much better! Now, hurry, we will miss the entire parade if you take too long.”

Vladimir allowed his brother to usher him out of his bedroom, out of their cramped apartment, and down the stairs before he was allowed to walk without an arm slung over his shoulders. Before they got too close to the deafening noise of the cheering spectators, Vladimir stopped. “Tolik, thank you.”

“For what?” Anatoly asked, looking puzzled.

“For getting us out of Russia; for being supportive; for just being a good damn brother,” Vladimir said while ticking the reasons off on his fingers. “You got us out and made us a life over here where I don’t have to pretend or feel ashamed anymore.”

Anatoly nodded solemnly before he put a comforting hand on Vladimir’s arm for just a moment before he dived into the crowd with an excited cheer.

The hardest thing Vladimir had ever did was to tell his brother why he had been getting into fights at school. After their parents had died when Vladimir had been fifteen, Anatoly had taken custody of his brother to keep him from being put into the system or worse. When he had finally confronted Vladimir about the fights he had just blurted out the reason and had instantly prepared for the worst. Instead, he received a hug and a new start in America the next year.

Even now, after almost seven years later, it was still a lot to take in and process, but he was trying to accept his new life and every part of himself. Some days were easy, but others were hard; days like today where he was wearing blue, pink, and purple like a badge were difficult because he felt exposed and unprotected. He was determined to try and feel comfortable with himself with a large group of his peers.

He moved to catch up to his brother before he lost him in the crowd watching the floats go by.

It was nice – loud and hot with the sheer amount of people into one place – but nice. The floats were decorated with all manner of streamers, balloons, and flowers; the people on them were wearing their flags and accessories with the kind of pride that Vladimir envied, but he was working on it.

Self-consciously he tugged on his t-shirt and thought for just a moment that he didn’t deserve to wear it if he couldn’t wear it like them. The thought was gone with a rough shake of his head, but the damage was done. He didn’t let it show, but he felt his confidence take a huge hit because of his self-doubt.

He tapped his brother’s arm once the last float passed where they had been standing. “If you are going to be on time to serve drinks we need to leave now.” The bar that Anatoly served in on weekends was going to be serving drinks at the festival happening after the parade. Naturally, Anatoly had jumped on the chance to go out and show his support any way he could.

The brothers started making their way to the park just outside of the city limits of Hell’s Kitchen, the only place large enough to house the festival. Vladimir knew he was going to be awkwardly standing around _Josie’s_ stand – unwilling to go far out on his own without anyone he knew to talk to.

It wasn’t like he _didn’t_ want to talk to anyone or make any new friends, but the fact that he was over 2 meters tall and built like a tank made him intimidating. Anatoly said it was his Resting Bitch Face that did it and Vladimir wasn’t convinced he was wrong. Regardless of the reason, Vladimir was determined to stay close to his brother and the free beer.

He had been listening to some college aged kids in purple, grey, white, and black play some quiet tunes on the grass just a few paces away when Anatoly pushed a plastic cup of beer into his hands with a firm push. “I do not want to see you for at least an hour. You are scaring everyone away.”

Vladimir grumbled but did as he was told and wandered away in search of something to do for an hour before his brother wouldn’t cheerfully kick him out again.

There was a blonde girl who was surrounded by pots of body paint with a sign asking for donations (for the Trevor Project, the sign said) in exchange for face or body painting.

He bit the inside of his cheek hard when he almost turned away from it. Instead, he dropped his unnecessary beer money into her basket and allowed her to paint his colors down his face like he was Braveheart.  

As he made to stand up, she stopped him with a quiet “wait.” He sat back down and turned to her. She had done some wonderful paint jobs on other people and yet her body was completely lacking any kind of coloring or design. He wanted to ask, but felt like it wasn’t his place to ask. He didn’t want to seem nosy – especially with something that could be an extremely touchy and sensitive subject. “Would you mind if you get in a group photo for my friend? He’s having a hard time coming out and I wanted to send him a picture of some people showing their Pride colors.”

Vladimir was surprised. Intellectually, he knew that other people struggled with their sexuality, but he had a hard time piecing together that his barely-there contribution to bisexual visibility would help someone else out. He weighed his options for a moment before he decided to join the group photo. In Russia, he knew what it was like to feel like there was something wrong with him, and he would have been in an even worse place if it hadn’t been for Anatoly. Even though his brother was straight and had no clue what it was really like not to fall into the neat, heteronormative box, he was able to provide Vladimir with a good support system. Finally, he was starting to feel like it was okay to be himself, and if he was able to help someone else get to that point he felt like his entire journey would mean something. “Sure,” he added quickly after he realized he hadn’t actually answered her question.

“Great!” she said with a clap of paint stained hands. “You’re actually the last I can probably add without smushing you guys in too close and ruining the photo.” She did some kind of roll-shimmy that allowed her to rise to her knees and wave wildly to someone behind Vladimir.

They were soon joined by a Puerto Rican girl with half her head shaved and the other sprayed with varying colors of the rainbow. Her face was streaked with a hot pink color with two overlaying symbols for female over one cheek. She smiled widely at the blond and sprawled down into an elegant heap on the warm grass. “Ready, Karen?” the newcomer asked before turning to Vladimir with an extended hand. “Claire.”

“Vladimir.”

During their introduction, they were joined by a busty brunette who had gone a more elegant route with her desired paint job that was done as a pink, yellow, and blue butterfly that was detailed with glitter paint to accentuate her dark brown eyes. She introduced herself as Elektra while she joined them on the grass with her legs stretched out in front of her and crossed at the ankle. “Where is your handsome friend? The one with the glasses?” she asked, her softly accented voice rounding out her vowels so that no matter what she said, it sounded sexy and sultry.

Karen huffed and Vladimir could see the corner of her mouth turn down with a slight frown. It was obvious that Karen was not quite fond of Elektra though she tried hard to hide it. “Matt? He probably got himself in a fight with the protesters.” It was said with a hint of exasperation but was overall fond.

Vladimir didn’t know whether to laugh or be worried about the missing member of the group picture. He was about to suggest that he go search for the missing ‘Matt’ when Karen pulled out her phone and started tapping on it with a speed Vladimir was almost jealous of (they hadn’t had a cell phone until they moved to America but a flip phone didn’t lend a hand to rapid fire texting skills).

While they waited for Karen’s friend, she sat them under a large tree so they could get out of the sun and arranged in a way that everyone’s paint was on display. Vladimir felt a bit uncomfortable sitting next to Elektra who was eyeballing Claire like she was some kind of treat. He almost felt like shifting their seating arrangements to sit between the two and give Claire some kind of buffer. But, given the hard eye roll and total lack of response to the obvious come-on’s, Vladimir figured she had it covered. She didn’t look like someone he would want to piss off.

Vladimir leaned back and rested his head on his crossed arms while he basked in the coolness of the shade. After being out in the sun for most of the day, he could feel the heat of a minor sunburn on the back of his neck. He often times cursed being Slavic because his skin was naturally pale and vulnerable to sunburn – he knew he would pay for spending too much time in the sun tomorrow; but for now, he was warm and comfortable.

With his head so close to the ground he could feel the vibration of two approaching sets of feet. “Sorry we’re late,” a slightly harassed sounding voice said with a huff. “Someone was trying to start a fight with one of the protesters. Mr. Justice-is-my-middle-name needs to leave shit like that alone if he doesn’t want to bruise up his face.”

Vladimir opened one eye and saw a disgruntled blond lean over and drop a kiss on the top of Karen’s head. He was holding on to the back of someone’s shirt like they were a grumpy child who wanted to wander off by themselves. Briefly, he wondered if that’s how Anatoly felt like whenever Vladimir came home from school after an obvious fight. He opened his other eye and sat up slowly. When he focused on the final addition to the group he felt his mouth go dry instantly. _Shit. Of course, he’s gorgeous_ , he complained to himself when he spotted the other newcomer. His floppy hair was a dark brown/red color that fell over his face and around a thick pair of glasses. And those damn glasses – did they have to amplify those damn doe eyes?

He was doomed.

The new guy, who was obviously Matt if the minimal description he had received from Elektra was anything to go off of, was the literal embodiment of every checkmark on Vladimir’s mental list of physical attributes. Even the garish glitter covered rainbow going across his face didn’t take away from his attractiveness. In fact, it somehow enhanced his cheekbones and mouth. It wasn’t fair.

He knew he was doomed when Karen hurried Matt under the tree and pushed up right against Vladimir’s empty right side. Matt was warm and smaller than him – he fit right under Vladimir’s arm as Karen organized them so that they were all wrapping arms around each other as if they were all best friends and not complete strangers.

“Smile everyone!” Karen called over her camera. The blond man, Foggy?, had his phone out next to her poised to take pictures at her command.

He allowed himself to smile and forced his awkwardness down – it was no time to start second guessing having any part of today filmed. He would remember it and cherish the time he was able to really be himself, but he was still nervous about other people having proof of his sexuality so blatantly displayed – especially people he didn’t actually know.

Karen and Foggy took several pictures each before they went through each of them and Karen decided on which one to send to her friend. “Thanks so much, everyone! Frank will really appreciate this when I send it to him!”

With the obvious dismissal, Vladimir got up as quickly as possible without knocking anyone over in his haste to get to his feet. Elektra was almost out of sight in the short time it took him to get to his feet, but the others were still mingling about. He checked the time on his watch before noting that his hour of forced socialization was over and he was free to go back to his brother.

He almost said something about them joining him at _Josie’s_ but noticed the others talking about something – a fight from earlier, it sounded like – and he lost his nerve. They were busy, it was obvious.

Instead of inviting them to join him for a drink, Vladimir waved awkwardly and fled, cursing his lack of proper social skills and general awkwardness the whole way back to Anatoly.

Back at _Josie’s_ Anatoly grinned when he spotted Vladimir and his newly painted face (although it was probably not as nice looking as it had been when Karen first did it – the heat had made him sweat and probably ruined the effect) until he saw the thunderous look under the tri-colored paint job. Anatoly, bless his heart, didn’t say anything and just handed him a new drink and let him sulk.

After a few minutes of silence, Anatoly turned to face Vladimir with a small, sad smile. “You looked like you had fun, _brat,_ why are you back and look like someone ran over a puppy?”

Vladimir sighed heavily into his beer and shook his head. “I did, but I am not good at getting to know people. You know this.”

He was pouting, he knew it; but he couldn’t bring himself out of his slump. He watched his brother laughing and chatting with people as they came up to the stand to get drinks. It was just natural for Anatoly to make connections with people, even if only for a few moments. Vladimir was convinced that Anatoly had inherited all the charm and charisma their shared genes allowed and he was stuck with the non-existent social skills and the epic Murder Face.

A long time had passed without Vladimir noticing. It was sunset all of a sudden and the orange and purple hues of the fading light hit him in the face, pulling him out of his own head. It wasn’t until he heard a familiar sounding voice that he chose to look back at the stand and his brother. The duo across the table form Anatoly were none other than Matt and Foggy. He waved at the pair and raised his own glass in a mock toast when they had received their own.

“Hey!” Matt called, extending the word out for longer than necessary. It was clear from the slight slur of the single word that he was going over the edge of tipsy and into the realm of drunk. “I remember you! You’re Braveheart the Bisexual!”

Vladimir, who had just raised his drink back up to his mouth, coughed on it as he let out an unexpected laugh. “ _Izvinite_?” he sputtered before he realized he had switched back to his native tongue in his mild embarrassment. “Excuse me?” he translated inelegantly while he hid his blushing face from his brother and the small crowd of people trying to buy drinks.

Matt frowned and bit down thoughtfully on his full lower lip. “Did I not call you that earlier today?” He turned to his friend and poked Foggy in the arm. “I called him that, right? That’s the pretty blond that was in the picture with me, right?” Matt whispered, loudly, at his friend.

Vladimir could feel the blush on his face extended down his neck as it darkened. He didn’t need to see his brother’s face to know that he was grinning like the maniac that he was. “ _Nichego ne govori, Tolik,”_ Vladimir growled quietly to his grinning brother who just held up his hands in mock surrender.

During their short exchange, it apparently occurred to Matt that he hadn’t been as quiet as he previous thought. His eyes widened comically behind his thick glasses as he slapped a hand over his mouth. Even behind his hand, Vladimir could hear the mortified “oops.”

It made him feel slightly better about himself that he wasn’t the only completely socially awkward person around – even if Matt was only awkward with alcohol in his system.

Matt ran a hand through his floppy hair which only seemed to make it fluffier and more out of control. “I – look, I’m – geeze, I really can’t believe – I…. I’m sorry,” Matt stuttered out before he turned on his heel, careful not to spill his drink, and fled as quickly as his inebriated state would allow.

Foggy, who looked equally filled with humor and second-hand embarrassment. “He used to be better about holding his alcohol,” Matt’s friend explained. “But he was kinda nervous about coming out here today. It’s the whole Catholic guilt thing, I think.” He gave Vladimir a wave and started jogging after his friend with a plea for him to slow down.

“He thinks you are cute,” Anatoly said with a wide grin. “Why are you not going after him?”

Vladimir had an excuse ready at the tip of his tongue but the image of Matt’s face with the glittery rainbow and doe eyes came to the forefront of his mind and the excuse died. He licked his lips and handed Anatoly his empty cup. “I want a refill when I come back,” he said absently, his mind already planning what he was going to say to Matt when he caught up to him.

“If you have any more, I am going to charge you!” Anatoly called to Vladimir’s back uselessly. Vladimir was a man on a mission. He had no use for his brother’s idle threats.

He spotted the duo over by the edge of the park, Matt pacing in winding, looping circles while he waved his hands around like a lunatic. Even from the distance he stopped at Vladimir could hear Matt whine at Foggy about how dumb he was. “It was worse than trying to take on that jerk Fisk with the homophobic posse of bigoted asswipes,” Matt complained with an angry foot stomp. “Why did you let me do that? You’re supposed to stop me from putting my foot in my mouth.”

Vladimir couldn’t stand around and let the adorable brunette berate himself any longer. Vladimir already had enough self-loathing for the entire gathering at Pride, there was no need for Matt to add to it. “I actually thought it was a clever name,” Vladimir said, loud enough for the duo to hear him. “And I also liked that you called me ‘pretty’,” he added as an afterthought as he made his way closer to Matt even though it was making his heart beat quicken in nerves.

“Really?” Matt squeaked out, “you’re _not_ going to hit me? I mean, I act tough and I tend to start fights wherever I go, but I really, really don’t want to fight you,” he rambled out without pause. “And that was definitely a run-on sentence, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, buddy,” Foggy said, his grin evident in the tone of his voice. “You’re gonna be the best lawyer ever with those oratory skills.”

“Shut up, Foggy,” Matt said with a blush.

Foggy just hummed and clapped Matt on the shoulder while he whispered something too low for Vladimir hear. He then nodded at both Matt and then Vladimir before he wandered away with a jaunty whistle.

Matt watched him go with a look of terror on his vibrantly painted face. “Please don’t beat me up now that he’s gone,” Matt pleaded. “Usually I know when to keep my mouth shut but I finally felt enough like myself to come out to the parade, and maybe I drank too much to keep feeling like myself. It’s not an excuse, but I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to objectify you or make you uncomfortable or –“

Vladimir cut him off with a single finger against his lips. “Do not worry about it,” he whispered, feeling more brave than usual. “You are quite charming, even when you ramble.” Matt tried to say something from behind Vladimir’s finger, but he shushed him with a smile. “Would you like to get a coffee with me? Normally, I would suggest a drink but it seems like you may have had a few too many of those already.”

Matt nodded vigorously, his floppy hair falling over his face again. He had the urge to brush it back and he only managed to resist for a few short moments. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to let my brother know I will meet him at home later.”

Matt handed the phone over with a quiet, “or tomorrow morning,” that Vladimir was sure he wasn’t supposed to hear that; but he was also an asshole of the worst sort and he couldn’t let it go.

“Or tomorrow morning,” he agreed casually while he texted Anatoly and simply told him _Will be home later. Don’t wait up._

He heard Matt groan and stamp his foot childishly on the ground. “Shut up, Matt,” he whispered to himself harshly.

Vladimir smiled to himself before he reached out and grabbed Matt’s wrist to stop him from running his hand through his hair again. “Come on, we will get drinks and see where it goes from there, yes?” He was going to stop there, but for whatever reason he was emboldened by the growing darkness and the glitter sparkling on Matt’s face, he had to continue with a gentle, teasing, “you have not even kissed me yet.”

Matt’s face flared scarlet again before he stepped closer to Vladimir and stuttered out a “y-you’re right. I need to f-fix that, don’t I?” he asked before he closed the gap between their lips for a quick moment where Vladimir had only a second to realize that Matt had taken him up on his offer.

His brain shorted out in the single second of contact only to come back on line slowly and with a little disappointment that the kiss had lasted barely a moment. _That won’t do,_ Vladimir thought to himself when he noticed the bright, pretty, blush extending down Matt’s face and down his neck. He traced the blush down his cheek and neck with the tips of his fingers and smiled at the warm heat of Matt’s blushing skin. He kissed him slowly, exploringly, while he kept one hand on Matt’s neck and the other still around his wrist. “Now let’s get some coffee and see where our night goes.”

“Good plan,” Matt said dreamily and allowed Vladimir to lead him out of the park.

He didn’t know where the night would go, or the next morning, or however long this would last (if it would last at all) but he found himself excited to find out. He was still a nervous wreck with poor social skills, but he had stamped that part of himself down enough to give himself a chance to figure out who he was in relation to other people. Including with Matt. _Especially_ with Matt.

It wasn’t a permanent solution, and he knew his anxiety would come back with a vengeance, but maybe he wasn’t as bad at making friends as he assumed he was. He slid his hand from Matt’s wrist to tangle their fingers together with a promise to himself that he would try his hardest to feel like he was worth wearing his colors so that he could feel like he could deserve to keep holding hands with the beautiful man following him.

 

 


End file.
